“Turkey has left no room for any kind of positive agenda at the forthcoming European Council,” Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that any last-minute “goodwill” gesture by Turkey now will be little more than a ploy and that “it’s not easy to fool the European Union.”
“Escalating its provocative, aggressive and illegal behavior, Turkey announced that it will extend its seismic research until November 29,” he said. In other words, he added, Turkey has been constantly escalating its illegal activities in the Eastern Mediterranean between August and the present day, while blatantly violating international law and the Law of the Sea. Turkey was striving to create a fair accompli by force, Dendias noted, to the detriment of EU member-states, while despising the clear positions and decisions of the EU, but also the calls from the international community to desist.
“Unfortunately, Turkey has missed another important opportunity to stop, when this would still have any meaning, its continued illegal behavior,” he said. “It is now clear and generally accepted in Europe that Turkey has chosen to act in a way that undermines international law and European goals. It has chosen to act as a revisionary and destabilising factor, dangerous to the security of both the immediate and wider region, but also to the priorities and values expressed and promoted by the EU.”
Dendias stated that “although the signs from the beginning did not leave much room for optimism, Greece, throughout this time, has systematically stated that it is ready for dialogue, provided the provocations stop.”
The foreign minister also reiterated: “We firmly believe that this is the only legitimate way to resolve the dispute we have with the neighbouring country.”
Source: ANA-MPA
